Barbara Bollier is a Democrat candidate for the U.S. senate.
If she wins her race, she will be the first Democrat from Kansas in the U.S. Senate since 1932.
WOW.
We must not lose this seat!
Yet…
Barbara Bollier just gave a terrifying interview that should alarm every American.
And many say it should even disqualify her from the race.
During the interview, Bollier was asked about the Patriot Act.
Most Americans know that the Patriot Act was created after 9/11 and gave the government unprecendented power to track and monitor and surveil American citizens.
However, it was clear that Bollier didn't know what the Patriot Act was.
But she pretended to know what she was talking about.
And then began talking about tarrifs instead…
Ummm… those aren't the same thing!
Can you imagine if a Republican candidate did or said the exact same thing?
We'd never hear the end of how "stupid" they are!
The media, for example, crucified Sarah Palin for much less than the frightening non-answer that Bollier gave.
See the unbelievable moment below:
Of course, Democrats are trying to excuse Bollier.
They defend her by saying she was "confused."
Kansas City has more details:
Kansas Democrat Barbara Bollier confused the Patriot Act, the sweeping national security legislation passed in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, with trade legislation during a Zoom call with Kansas farmers.
Joe Gierut, the spokesman for America Rising, a Republican-aligned super PAC, posted a video to Twitter Tuesday of Bollier struggling to answer a question about the Patriot Act during a September 28 call with members of the Kansas Farm Bureau.
The call took place two days before the Farm Bureau endorsed Bollier’s opponent in the U.S. Senate race, Republican Rep. Roger Marshall. The Star obtained a full video of the 50-minute conversation, which confirms the 90-second clip circulated by Gierut has not been altered.
Bollier, a state senator from Mission Hills and the Kansas Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, was asked for her position on the Patriot Act, the 2001 law passed under President George W. Bush that greatly expanded law enforcement’s powers of domestic surveillance as part of the War on Terrorism.
“I haven’t read it yet, Joanne,” Bollier said with an awkward laugh. “Specifically. Tell me what specifically you want to know about that.”
The questioner responded that her concern was with “the extraordinary powers that were given to the executive branch under that, perhaps they need to be reviewed.”
Bollier then interjected that she believed the questioner was asking about “the ability to impose tariffs, et cetera, unilaterally” and launched into a response about trade policy rather than government surveillance.
“I’m very, very opposed to that. It has to be reexamined. Must be. Because that just isn’t something that should happen unilaterally. I understand why it went into place when it did, but it has to be reevaluated and I don’t think one individual should have the ability to just pass something like that unilaterally,” Bollier said in the clip.
“That’s why we have a Senate and a House. And I would work very hard to change that. I forgot that’s what it was called. I apologize, but I do know about it.”
The Patriot Act has little to do with tariffs. The controversial law has been the subject of long-standing disputes regarding national security and the protection of civil liberties.
Congress passed reforms in 2015 when the Patriot Act was up for renewal, but much of the surveillance power established under the original law has remained.
Bollier’s spokeswoman, Alexandra De Luca, said the Johnson County state senator had misheard the question.
“This was a Zoom meeting with the Farm Bureau where Barbara was discussing ag issues. She misheard the question and thought she was getting asked about the Trade Authority Act, which is legislation requiring congressional oversight of trade agreements,” De Luca said in a statement.
Formally known as the Bicameral Congressional Trade Authority Act, it was introduced last year and co-sponsored by Kansas Republican Sen. Jerry Moran.
It would amend a 1962 law that gave the president the power to impose tariffs based on the recommendation of the secretary of Commerce if there are national security concerns.
We hope voters in Kansas are paying attention!
If you want smaller and more responsible government, how can you vote for a candidate who appears not to know about the Patriot Act!
We must continue to support Constitutional-conservatives in our government!
We must ensure that Kansas remains a solidly red state!
But Washington Monthly reports that Bollier could be the first Democratic senator from the state since 1932:
Kansas Republicans celebrated when the so-called “establishment candidate,” Rep. Roger Marshall won the Senate primary against Kris Kobach, a Trump mini-me who lost the 2018 governor’s race in that state. But recent polls show that Marshall is in a dead heat with his opponent, Barbara Bollier.
Back in 2004, Thomas Frank put Kansas on the modern-day political map with his book, What’s the Matter With Kansas? In his telling, “conservatives won the heart of America” by convincing Kansans to vote against their own economic interests in an effort to defend traditional cultural values against the bicoastal elites. Does Frank’s analysis still apply?
We know that Trump’s Republican Party, now that it’s passed huge tax cuts for the wealthy, has no agenda other than the so-called “culture wars,” as is represented by their attempts to overturn Roe v. Wade, end affirmative action, and demonize immigrants. That’s what animates the Republican base of nostalgia voters, including those in Kansas. It should have propelled Kobach to victory in the 2018 Kansas governor’s race. But it didn’t.
Prior to running as the Democratic nominee for Senate, Bollier was one of four Kansas state legislators who left the Republican Party in 2019. All four were women representing suburban districts just outside Kansas City. Each of their districts was in the congressional district which elected Sharice Davids. As one of three openly lesbian women currently serving in Congress (all Democrats), Davids’s resume demonstrates that Kansas really is changing. She is a Native American graduate of Cornell Law School who served in the Obama administration and has competed as a mixed martial arts fighter. Explaining her decision to switch parties, Bollier pointed out how Republicans have reacted to these changes when she said, “Conservatives, or the further-right faction of the Republican Party, have continued and continued and continued to try to force those of us of the moderate mind out of the party.”
With that kind of shift going on in the Kansas suburbs, it is important to look at the rural areas of the state. While anecdotal, journalist James Fallows and his wife Deborah spent time in small-town western Kansas in 2016, where Hispanic immigrants now make up over half of the population. They asked everyone they met one question: “How has Kansas handled this shift in demography?” Here’s what they heard:
Every single person we have spoken with — Anglo and Latino and other, old and young, native-born and immigrant, and so on down the list — every one of them has said: We need each other! There is work in this community that we all need to do. We can choose to embrace the world, or we can fade and die. And we choose to embrace it.
None of that means that Kansas is likely to go blue anytime soon, but it’s not Kobach country either. Trump’s 20-point win in the state in 2016 is down to under nine points, according to the polling aggregate at FiveThirtyEight. What worries Kansas Republicans are the ticket splitters who support the president but plan to vote for Bollier. She captured some of that in a recent television ad.
Trump is expected to win Kansas, no problem.
If you live in Kansas, it's important to vote straight red!
We must re-elect President Trump!
And we must also ensure he has the support he needs in the Senate!
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